Welcome to Auction Watch, a new feature that looks back at auction activity in the preceding months. The overall information is courtesy of David Sandeman at the Essential Information Group, plus comments elsewhere in the property press.

2017 was very much a year of two halves. In the first half auction sales fell by 5% and revenues by 7% when compared to H1 2016. This can be largely attributed to the huge, unprecedented spike in sales we witnessed in early 2016, when buyers rushed to beat the impending stamp duty changes that saw new surcharges introduced for buy-to-let and second home purchases.

In the second half of 2017 we saw the negatives turn into positives. Despite the marginal falls of 1% seen in lots offered, lots sold and amount raised in December, the quarterly figures show a 3% gain in amount raised to £1.351bn. Furthermore, our figures for the whole of H2 show an overall rise of 2.1% in lots sold and 6.2% in amount raised – all against a backdrop of Brexit uncertainty and political turmoil following the general election result!